Wednesday, July 18, 2012

For over two years, we've had an Inside Workplace Wellness Facebook Page. We started it as a way to reach the families of our employees and include them in our wellness efforts. We try to post interesting articles, announcements, or pictures of staff on a daily basis. However, the level of engagement is pretty limited. That is, we don't get many comments, shares, or posts by others. Sometimes I find myself thinking, why bother? Recently I received a note from Kellie Rowden-Racette about how she started using Body Rock TV as a result of one of our posts. She made my day and agreed to share her story here.

Kellie after the Warrior Dash last May

When I first interviewed with ASHA I was not only interested in the job (of course) but I was heartened to see that my prospective employer had a robust wellness program that encouraged its employees to get up from their desks and actually be healthy. I've been a fitness instructor since 1993 and working out and being active is undeniably programmed into my routine. Granted my workouts are shells of what they used to be, but I still teach classes, can and will run three or four miles once or twice a week, and try to work out for at least 20-30 minutes each day. Desperate for time, I'm always looking for quick and effective workouts that Get. It. Done. So last week I saw a post on ASHA's Inside Workplace Wellness that highlighted seven workout regimens that have cult followings. All the usual suspects were there: Crossfit (not enough time); Insanity (too much money, still not enough time, and the name kind of scares me); Zumba (fun but only as a once-in-a-while workout); Bikram yoga (LOVE it, but expensive and time consuming). Then I noticed Body Rock TV. "What is that?" I wondered. I clicked on the site and at first thought I was looking at an ... um ... adult site given the photographs of the models in “exercise gear.” Once I got past that, I clicked on one of their video workouts. It was 12 minutes long featuring Lish, a mother of three with an AMAZING body, and her trainer, Sean, who must have the gold medal of jobs for single men. At first I watched with suspicion waiting for Lish the Barbie mom to break out the pink Barbie dumbbells. Imagine my surprise when Barbie mom dropped and cranked out burpees and pushups like a seasoned Marine Corp sargeant. So then I tried it. There were some new twists on some old exercises, some classics, and some entirely new exercises that left me shell shocked, exhausted, and definitely impressed.

So needless to say, I now follow them on Facebook. Most of their workouts are about 15 minutes long, they come out with a new one every few days (I can't quite tell what the schedule is) and it's been an easy way to complement my occasional runs, weekly classes, and periodic indulgence in Bikram yoga. What's even better is that it's free! Quick, easy, and free -- it's hard to say no to that.